As usual, there was much curiosity about whether we’d bring home a Mini Minal or Mini Ben come summertime.

Last week, we got our answer: It’s a boy.

Despite my desire to wait until delivery to find out the sex of our baby, I knew Ben wanted to know beforehand. And when confronted with the opportunity to find out, I caved to temptation.

Now I’m dying to know which physical features he’s grabbed from each of us and what his personality will be like. One surprise may be out of the way, but there are so many more in store.

The origins of chili can be traced back to northern Mexico and the American southwest. There are debates about which country was first to make it, and there is even more debate over the “correct” way to make it. Whatever the case, chili is a fun an forgiving meal to prepare.

• Time: 1hr 30min
• Yields: 8+

Chili Surprise Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 8 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 lbs. ground turkey or chicken
• 3 chopped jalapeño peppers
• 1 chopped serrano pepper
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 – 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 – 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 – 15 oz. can prepared chili beans

Directions

1. Heat oil in large Dutch oven or heavy stockpot over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions, garlic and peppers. Sauté until onions are translucent — about 8 minutes.
3. Add ground turkey or chicken and sauté until brown, breaking up meat with back of spoon — about 5 minutes.
4. Add cumin, basil, oregano and thyme. Stir 2 minutes.
5. Mix in crushed tomatoes and tomato paste.
6. Simmer until thickened to desired consistency, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking — about 1 hour 15 minutes.
7. Mix in beans. Simmer 5 minutes.
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Notes

• Have fun making your chili. You can put just about anything in it. I dumped in a cup of leftover tomato bisque and the rest of an open jar of spicy pasta sauce into my batch. And it was freaking awesome.

***

Another simple, fun food to make is the grilled cheese sandwich, which can be found all around the world. In America, it is called grilled cheese; in the UK and New Zealand it goes by toastie; in Australia it is called a cheese jaffle;  and in South Africa it is popularly known as a snackwich.

• Time: 5 minutes
• Yields: 4+

Grilled Cheese with Tomatoes Ingredients

• White bread, wheat bread, whatever you want
• American cheese, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, whatever you want — or use a blend of several cheeses
• Butter
• 1 tomato

Directions

1. Make a cheese sandwich and butter the outside of the bread slices.
2. Grill the sandwich in a pan, a panini grill, toast it, or throw it in an oven.
3. Cook until cheese melts and the bread turns a golden brown.

Notes

• For cheese lovers, try making your grilled cheese with several types of cheeses.
• For meat lovers out there, try putting some bacon in your grilled cheese sandwich.
• For those like Minal, throw in some onions — either fresh or grilled — in between the slices of bread.

To mark the first anniversary of our home purchase, we’re sharing before-and-after pictures. Check out our progress.

A little back story: For about a year, we’ve had to deal with the hassle of having two cars yet only one garage-door remote. When we bought our house, the seller had only one, which confounded us. We thought that buying a second compatible remote would be easy, but later found out that the garage-door opener itself was ancient and obsolete.

Being the gentleman that he is, Ben told me to keep our only remote in my car, so I rarely faced the inconvenience he felt on most days.

That all changed last night. My husband turned into DIY Guy and installed a new garage-door opener — with two remotes! I helped a bit here and there, but I was proud of Ben for the time and effort he dedicated to successfully install a complicated and risky device.

Give the man a high-five next time you see him — he deserves it.

Though autumn has been eye candy for us, the responsibilities that the season brings upon homeowners isn’t too fun.

I’m talking about raking leaves.

The other weekend, I decided I couldn’t put off the task any longer, so out I went with a rake and tarp in tow. Ninety minutes later, Ben came out with a high-powered leaf blower.

“Figures,” I thought. “Men and their machines.”

We accomplished a lot, and even though I was proud of our newly neat yard, I think I’ll hire someone next year.

Every year since 2006, I’ve been struck by the beauty of autumn in the Midwest. But this year, even native St. Louisans have been taken aback by color, color, everywhere. Since the end of October, the scenery has looked as though Mother Nature came through town to shower us with a confetti of leaves — orange, red, yellow and plum.

Fall is the season when the Show-Me State truly has something magnificent to share.

Check out our snaps…

Benjaminal are celebrants of love. How can one not revel in the lifelong commitment two people make to support and nurture each other?

So we jumped at the opportunity when our friends Dana and Shedrick invited us to mark their five-year wedding anniversary one recent Saturday.

We headed to Mount Pleasant Winery for a bit of wine tasting, food and talk on marriage.

I got a bit misty-eyed listening to our comrades share their favorite things about the other. It’s a love story that makes you want to celebrate each day with your spouse.

Two hours passed with us idling around, snacking on Snickers bars, waiting for something to happen. But, no dice. Just when we thought our Halloween was a bust…

… our cousins Nayeli and Karyna stopped by to show off their ballerina moves, and then our good friends Jabari and Lora spent the evening with us. While Jabari hammed it up in costume, we prepared dinner.

Then our other friend Jen came by with her daughter, Delia. Both were dressed in beautifully elaborate handmade dresses comprised of about 75 yards of tulle. Amazing!

The six of us shared scary-movie stories, cooked some more and played video games. It was proof again that when all else fails, family and friends will save the day … or night.

Throughout the past 11 months, we’ve spruced up the house with attic insulation, some window treatments, a sofa, TV, dining-room set, futon and bedroom furniture. Once the big stuff was out of the way, I started to focus on the details. Recently, Ben installed my favorite detail to date: the hanging pot rack.

What we thought would be a piece of cake to install turned into a nightmare. We had all necessary tools — even a stud finder, except that it led us astray, resulting in a half-dozen useless holes drilled into the kitchen ceiling. We then tried to locate the joists through the light fixture, an unsuccessful attempt that then led to a crooked fixture. It got so frustrating that Ben had to sleep on it.

The next day, however, he was unstoppable.

After crawling above and wading through 18 inches of fiber-glass insualtion, he drilled holes next to the joists from the attic down with a bit of guidance from me. Once back downstairs, he installed the pot rack within 30 minutes. He even Spackled so the ceiling got a facelift!

Married life rocks!